The Real Stars
by Bea Candy
Summary: Prompt by tumblr user Snowyfrostshadows: "Sometimes Papyrus gets an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Like he's done this all before" (Briefly implied Soriel)
1. Just Lights

The sun only held his attention for a moment. Sure, it was amazing and it was so beautiful and so much brighter than anything he'd ever known, but that was nothing compared to the idea of meeting more humans. He could be the first monster to meet the human king, he could be an icon, the mascot that humans thought of when they thought of monsters! Forget about the royal guard, this was a popularity level he only could have dreamed of before today!

He ran off with barely a second thought, toward a place where he could see buildings.

"Papyrus, wait a second!"

Undyne caught up with him and said a lot of things he could barely keep up with, about diplomacy and an ambassador and a mascot's job being very important, and he couldn't help but feel like her priorities were skewed because this was the surface, filled with humans and sunlight and everything they'd ever been waiting for. But he relented and headed back to the cliff with her and watched as she cheered about finally being on the surface.

"I've gotta tell everybody," she said, eyes wide. "I've gotta get everyone! Papyrus, you stay here, okay? I-I've gotta get _everyone_. Everyone's hopes and dreams..."

And then Undyne ran back into the Underground. As soon as she was gone, Sans returned, almost like he was waiting for her to leave. He sat, his feet dangling off the cliffside, and patted the ground next to him, indicating for Papyrus to sit down. He complied and they watched in silence as the sun sunk past the horizon, leaving an orange-pink-gray that slowly faded to purple-black. Sans leaned into Papyrus's side absentmindedly (probably too half-asleep to sit up straight, honestly, only Sans could think about sleep at a time like this) and Papyrus put his hand on Sans's shoulder, rubbing it in a half-hug as they both looked at the sky. And as pinpricks of light broke up the black, It was...

It was...

Papyrus frowned.

"Hey, Sans?" He asked before he lost the nerve, "Can we talk?"

Sans turned from the sky to Papyrus without skipping a beat. "Yeah," he said, grinning, "Not sure how, exactly. I mean, we don't have vocal chords and my mouth doesn't even-"

Papyrus narrowed his eyes at him, good-natured but serious.

Sans's grin twitched for a moment before settling on a casual smile again as he turned his face back toward the stars. "What's up, bro?"

Papyrus followed suit, looking at the stars searchingly. Quietly, as if it was casual, he asked, "Did Frisk tell us their name before the barrier broke?"

"Uh," Sans said automatically, sounding like he didn't understand the question. "No?" he answered.

"Not once?" Papyrus asked, some feeling entering his voice.

"They don't really talk much," Sans said, sounding unaffected. "I don't think we would have missed it."

"I know. I know, but." Papyrus felt silly now, but he couldn't stop himself. "Do you remember what I said about them seeming familiar when we first saw them?"

Sans froze at that, now actively looking away from Papyrus. "I thought you said you knew who you knew," he said, his voice shaking a little bit.

"Yes, but. I'm not really so sure anymore." Papyrus wanted to stop now, he knew he was worrying him by insisting on this, but his voice went on almost by itself. "Because when they said their name was Frisk, it felt like, somehow, I already knew. And when we went to stop the fight with Asgore and Flo-and that flower tried to attack them, and when they said they wanted to be the ambassador, and-"

 _And these stars,_ he didn't say. _And these stars should be incredible and breathtaking, they're much more bright and beautiful than the wishing room. But they just look like light, it feels natural, even though obviously I've never been to the surface before._

 _And you, you should be utterly engrossed in this. Astronomy is one of the few things you've ever gotten excited about. But you just look as bored, as uninterested, as ever. You feel it too, don't you? Maybe not about Frisk, you're not best friends with them like me, but about this sky at least._

He didn't say any of that. Even in his head it sounded ridiculous, like he was projecting his weird feelings onto Sans. Instead, he just sighed and shrugged. "I guess it's been a long day," he said.

Sans looked at him in away Papyrus couldn't place, and Papyrus begged with his eyes for Sans to just forget about it and pretend he hadn't said anything.

Sans looked like he wanted to say something, but after looking at his face he relented. "Yeah," he said, grasping Papyrus's hand and squeezing it for a moment before letting go and looking at the sky again. "It's been a really long day."

The air was tense, waiting for one of them to say something.

Sans volunteered to be the one and spoke up. "Did you know that stars are super hot? Like, made of fire?"

Papyrus reeled from the sudden change in subject and shook his head, bewildered.

"In fact, you _could_ call them-"

"Oh no," Papyrus said, recognizing the tone of voice.

"-Space heaters," Sans finished with a wink.

"Sans!" Papyrus yelled with mock-fury.

Sans cackled with the smuggest possible look on his face. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to make that one," he said

And in a conversation so nostalgic it was actually supposed to be familiar, the feeling didn't seem so bad, so he let himself take Sans's bait, more puns dissolving into playful bickering dissolving into brother-wrestling and giggle fits under the night sky.

* * *

The more time passed on the surface, the more Papyrus's feeling of déjà vu faded. Some key events still felt unsettling, like finding the perfect car and budgeting out a way to afford it with Sans, or Undyne bragging about her "historically significant" day on the beach with Alphys, or Toriel's party to celebrate earning a teaching license. But as more things happened, as everyone settled into their lives and monsters formed a legitimate alliance with humanity, the feeling began to fade. So he stopped thinking about it.

* * *

Toriel was radiant this evening in her simple yellow sundress. "Thank you so much for this, Papyrus," she said, smiling fondly.

Papyrus grinned. "Nonsense, Toriel! Frisk and I will have a wonderful night together! I have a wide selection of games and movies picked out!" With a teasing tone, he added, "You two have fun!"

Toriel nodded gratefully and turned away from him, bending her knees in order to properly hug Frisk. "Be good for Papyrus, alright?" she said, unnecessarily.

Frisk nodded, but their smile looked forced to Papyrus. Usually they were excited to spend the night with him, but right now they looked like their mind was occupied.

The oddness did not go unnoticed by Toriel, who frowned as her eyebrows furrowed in concern. But then Sans came down the stairs in a shirt without ketchup stains, as close to presentable as Sans could get, and she just kissed their forehead fondly and ruffled their hair.

"I'll see you in the morning," she whispered, and Frisk managed to lose their tense expression and nod.

'See you soon, Mom,' they signed, and Toriel looked satisfied.

(Shortly after they'd come to the surface, it had become clear that Frisk's simple one-word answers and typical silence were because verbal communication didn't come to them easily, and, as such, everyone had scrambled to learn sign-language to allow more comfortable conversation with them.)

Sans clasped Toriel's hand, unaware of Frisk's odd mood. "Don't burn down the house, bro," he said over his shoulder as she opened the door for the two to leave.

"You're thinking of Undyne!" Papyrus called out in mock-indignation as Sans closed the door behind them. He huffed and turned toward Frisk, his face falling as he saw their strange, uncomfortable expression.

He was always the one who made conversation, so he managed to not seem especially tense as he babbled amicably while starting up a bowl of popcorn and choosing a movie, a familiar one he and Frisk had already watched together a few times. As he grabbed the popcorn and the title showed, it was pretty obvious neither of them were paying any attention to it. Frisk was gazing at the floor and Papyrus was gazing at Frisk uncertainly.

When Frisk noticed his scrutiny, they met his eyes for a few moments. 'Hey Papyrus?' they signed, face looking thoughtful. Papyrus paused the movie and nodded in acknowledgment. 'You know that thing you said to those jerks at the supermarket yesterday? About how it's never too late to change and anyone can be a good person if they try?'

Papyrus did remember that. They had pushed him and said quite a few rude things about Monsterkind's presence on the surface. But he didn't understand why they'd be thinking about that now. He nodded uncertainly.

They turned away. 'Does that mean that it's okay to do bad things, as long as you fix everything in the end?'

"I think it's never too late to go back and be a good person," he said slowly. Were they guilty about something? Had they gotten in trouble at school? He smiled and continued in a reassuring voice, "It's alright if you did something wrong, Frisk, nobody's going to be mad at you. You're a very good person. You're one of my best friends."

'Yeah, but. What if I'm going to do something bad?' They seemed to realize what they had signed, because their face screwed up and they frantically continued, 'But it's something I can fix! It's just something I'll do once, and then I'll make everything right.'

Now Papyrus was really confused. "Frisk," he said uncertainly, "you don't have to do anything you don't want to do."

'But it _is_ something I want to do.' they answered insistently before their face filled with shame at the admission 'Is _that_ bad?' they asked, their movements slightly shaky.

"Why would you want to do something if you know it's bad?" Papyrus asked with a voice he hoped was confused rather than judgmental.

They paused at that. 'I'm not really sure,' they signed with an uncomfortable smile which faded as they continued. 'I guess it's because I want to know what will happen. Part of me thinks that the things I'll learn might be helpful or might make things better in the long run, but really it's because I can. I can do it, and I can turn back, and I can fix it, and I'll still be a good person.'

"I think you're kind of misinterpreting what I said," Papyrus said, trying to be lighthearted as if he really believed this was a totally hypothetical conversation.

They laughed as they signed 'Maybe.' They stopped shaking and frowned. 'It doesn't really matter,' they signed. 'You're not going to remember this.'

"I'm not?" he asked, his voice small.

Frisk nodded and didn't look at him, as if they weren't actually addressing him so much as expressing their thoughts with careful hand movements. 'You don't remember the time I made mistakes. And you don't remember the first time I did the right thing either. In the end, you're not going to remember the bad things I do either. You'll only remember the last thing I do, and it'll be the best one. I won't do anything wrong, and I won't want to do anything wrong anymore, and we can stay like this and I'll really be good.'

Suddenly everything made sense. _They really are familiar! This really did all happen before! I really do know who I know! And they're the reason. I have to tell everyone, I have to tell Sans, what does this mean? Is this the "anomally" that he wrote about in that stack of scientific papers I didn't understand? What does this mean for our future? Does anyone else know? Have they been keeping this to themself for all this time? Or, if this has happened multiple times, even longer? How many times have I tried to capture them like that? How many times have they had to build up the courage to face King Asgore? How long-_

Snapping out of his thoughts, Papyrus looked at Frisk and realized their eyes somehow both glazed over and focused with something Papyrus didn't know the name of right now. He understood what was happening and his eyes widened as he reached for their shoulders frantically. "Frisk, wait-!"

* * *

-Papyrus woke up.

Ah! What a nice nap! Short enough to be properly refreshing and prepare him for his day. If he'd had a dream, he didn't remember it. He removed his pajamas and slid on one of his favorite sets of cool clothes, putting on his battle body on top of the outfit. He bounded down the stairs and started to stretch excitedly. His new job as a sentry was waiting for him, and, any day now, a human would come through and he'd capture it and secure his place in the Royal Guard!

While Papyrus stretched, Sans sauntered out of his room and smiled coolly, muttering something through a yawn that almost resembled a greeting. For Sans, this was an unusually early time to be awake. Papyrus thought to question him, but decided against it. After all, why discourage a change he'd always wanted to see?

And besides, Sans being up at a reasonable hour, grabbing a small container of spaghetti from the food museum for breakfast, heading to work without procrastination ... somehow, even if it wasn't the norm, it didn't seem all that strange on this particular day.

In fact, it seemed...

...familiar.


	2. Better Wishes

Hey! Fanfiction net's formatting is really confusing me and I had to give up a feature (strikethroughs) to get it on here. If you can, I'd recommend popping over to AO3 to better follow this story.

* * *

It was strange.

It was...really strange.

The look they gave her, it looked so much like admiration.

Like the look Asgore gave her way back when she landed her first blow on him.

Which was honestly the last thing she expected. She expected shock. Or, more likely, stony resolve. Or maybe even hate. The part of her that cared at all about the why assumed the human must have so much hate in order to kill all of the monsters they came across.

Enough hate to kill a couple of dogs.

Enough hate to kill a freaking kid.

Enough hate to kill...

But they looked at her like they were amazed. Proud?

They looked at her like they believed in her.

It was really messed up.

They took a moment to appraise her, their eyes wide and impressed as they looked at her armor, her eye. In doing so, they let her have the first real move.

So she attacked.

And that was strange too. It was pretty clear they knew how to handle a soul shield. They blocked the first few blows just fine. But when she got serious...

They seemed stunned when she landed her first blow. Like they hadn't experienced hurt like that in a while, if ever. Which made sense. When you kill enough monsters, it gets easier to kill them. So they probably hadn't had a real fight since back when they had started.

Naturally, they attacked. And again they looked stunned when she didn't instantly fade into particles of dust, or at least show any sign of injury or fatigue. And when she managed to throw her own attacks again, the human got lost in them and collapsed.

Stupid human. They should have realized she wasn't kidding.

They were gonna have to try harder than _that_.

* * *

 **Their eyes opened for the first time that she saw as they rushed to pull Kid back up the cliff, not paying her any mind. She was thankful that her armor hid her expression because it would be bad if the human saw her face now that it was filled with...a really indescribable expression. As she ran off, she tried rationalize it in her head (that coward of a human, hiding behind their friend, how shameless, how weak) but she knew she had already lost at something before even engaging them.**

* * *

The look they gave her, it looked like...

Like fondness twinged with secondhand embarrassment. Like the look she gave Papyrus when he looked especially proud of an easy-to-solve puzzle.

(Back when Papyrus was still alive, before they slaughtered him and his neighbors.)

They attacked quickly and they barely left a dent. They didn't seem too surprised. She wondered if the form she thought was so revolutionary, so unique, was nothing new to this human. Maybe they'd brushed up on their history.

They weren't surprised when she faked them out with a slow start, either. They must have been an expert. They looked small, harmless, wearing a tutu and ballet shoes, of all things, but they were pretty competent, dealing blows with only small mistakes. Maybe they were trained back on the surface?

Still, that didn't do them any good. They knew what to expect, they didn't underestimate her, but they were quickly overwhelmed.

* * *

 **They lost to her. They didn't stand a chance. Undyne didn't know how to feel. It was her first LOVE, but she already felt so detached. She couldn't feel bad for this. It was for the good of the kingdom.**

 **She'd have to tell Asgore. Wh-**

* * *

 **They lost to her. They didn't stand a chance. Undyne didn't know how to feel. It was her first LOVE, but she already felt so detached. She couldn't feel bad for this. It was for the good of the kingd-**

* * *

 **They lost to her. They didn't stand a chance. Undyne didn't know how to feel. It was her first LOVE, but she already felt so detached. She couldn't feel bad for this. It was for the good of the kingdom.**

 **She'd have to tell Asgore. What would he say? Would he be guilty that he wasn't the one? That she had to do something like this? Would he avoid her? Would he do his best to forget he was anything to her besides a king?**

 **What would Papyrus think of her? He'd forgive her, obviously. But would he understand why she wouldn't accept it? Would he stubbornly insist she didn't understand what she'd done yet?**

 **The longer that time went on, the more the truth of it sank in. She scowled. Why was it like this? She did her job! She did what everyone asked, wanted, needed from her. She felt so hollow. She wanted another chance to just-**

* * *

 **They lost to her. They didn't stand a chance. Undyne didn't know how to feel. It was her first-**

* * *

 **Against all odds, without ever striking her, without ever giving up, they managed to escape her yet again. They ran right into Hotland, and despite everything telling her not to, she pursued.**

* * *

The look they gave her, it looked kind of like exasperation.

Like the look Alphys gave her when she claimed she was going to punch a rock to pieces for daring to trip the scientist.

Oh, Alphys...

She knew better than to think about Alphys at a time like this.

They dodged like the graceful dancer their tutu and ballet shoes (of all things) would suggest. If they didn't land their own hits every turn, she'd take them for a gentle soul.

...Where the _hell_ did that thought come from? They were a murderer! They killed Papyrus! She couldn't understand how she could _ever_ imagine anything positive about the creature. Yet the thoughts persisted.

The longer the battle went on, the more it felt like. Like she could almost forget what it really was. A battle to save everyone. It didn't feel like that at all. Somehow, Undyne felt something like...

...guilt?

No. More like...a wish that things could have been different. A belief that, in better circumstances, this human could maybe...

But, just like that, they were dead.

They looked at her, and they didn't look scared of dying or sad or desperate. They looked...frustrated.

No. Angry.

...No. What...was that?

* * *

 **They poured water onto her after all that? Not only did they refuse to hurt her, they also refused to let her be hurt by her own decision to pursue them into Hotland in her heavy armor. It...wasn't a schtick, was it? They were really something else.**

* * *

 **They wouldn't hurt a _tomato_. They were officially the hugest loser she'd ever known. But also very different than the type of loser she'd assumed humans were. Well, maybe they'd at least stir noodles properly.**

 **Or not.**

* * *

 **They called her and Papyrus basically every minute. They were insatiably curious about her opinion on everything they came across. They broke their silence to giggle as she fervently defended her decision to ask Alphys about the weather. They gasped when Papyrus said she threw his sofa at her. They were so...**

* * *

The look they gave her...

It didn't look like any look she had ever given or received.

It looked thrilled, it looked furious, it looked like some combination between anger and joy that was miles away from righteous fury. It was something monsters didn't have a word for because they didn't experience it.

A want to hurt someone, but not for a goal. For the hurting.

It wasn't exactly hate.

Must be a human thing.

Right.

The fight was intense. The hate was somehow mutual. She attacked, they dodged some, healed some. They attacked, she took it and absorbed it like a pinprick. But they just kept coming, and the pinpricks unraveled her so entirely.

She held on by a thread. She barely managed to kill them. She stared at their soul. Take it to Asgore? Or destroy it right here? She wanted to destroy it, but the surface...

The surface was worth more than her wants. Somehow she knew the surface was worth giving up a little bit of justice.

She clasped it and held it, careful not to absorb it herself and risk ruining everything, even if she felt like she was going to fade. But. Not into dust. It felt like any moment she would fade into-

* * *

 **"Yo, my parents are gonna flip if they find out about this!" Kid said, but it wasn't with the excited tone of rebellion. It was actually kind of annoyed. Yeah, she really blew it when she tried to kill Frisk just because they were a human. She probably ought to properly apologize for that sometime.**

 **For now, though, she wasn't worried about Kid admiring her. "What your parents don't know can't hurt them," she said, "duh!"**

 **"Undyne, this is dumb. What's so great it couldn't wa-"**

 **Kid stopped mid-sentence as they finally looked up.**

 **"Whoa," they said, simply, at the stars. Success!**

 **She distantly saw Papyrus and Sans talking on the edge. (Were they chatting casually or speaking quietly? Looking up or at each other? She wasn't quite sure. It was like when your radio signal is between two stations and you flip between two songs and static.) They didn't seem to notice her or Kid, and she didn't blame them. If she weren't double-checking that Papyrus had stayed put, she doubted she would have noticed the two, either.**

 **She looked up, too. "Make a wish, Kid. And make it count. You're wishing on the real deal, now."**

 **(The static faded for a moment.**

 ** _"In fact, you could call them-"_**

 ** _"Oh no."_**

 ** _"-Space heaters."_ )**

* * *

They didn't bother to look at her. They attacked, full force, unfazed by her transformation. They dodged her spears like they had rehearsed her patterns. What bozo taught them about green soul magic?

She didn't let up, but it didn't do any good. They got hit a few times by especially fast attacks, but their pockets were stuffed with those cute little novelty cinnamon buns they sold at the inn in Snowdin (She had the sneaking suspicion they didn't buy them). And their attacks were individually inconsequential to her extreme form, but, like a pickaxe on rock, the little dents were starting to accumulate.

She was, somehow, fighting a losing battle. The little human seemed so tiny, so simple, wearing that ridiculous tutu and attacking with ballet shoes of all things.

But they knew what they were doing. And it barely seemed to take any time for them to get her to half of her strength.

A quarter.

An eight.

The end.

She felt strange, like she wasn't dying correctly. But she felt okay at the same time, like she wasn't dying at all. She said something, but it was barely her. She forced words while her mind retreated to her okayness.

She knew the world would live on (as long as Alphys didn't start to "contemplate pits" in her absence), she knew she'd done some good (unless they were too fast for the stalling to do any good), she knew the thing would die (as long as Asgore was willing to absorb the souls)

They were huffing with a profound relief and god she hated them.

Then...they looked...sad. Not guilty, no. Just sad. They leaned up to her melting form and whispered, "I'll see you later, bestie."

...

 **What the...?**

 **...Fri-**


End file.
